Strengthening Access to Justice and Legal Aid in Kenya in times of COVID: The second National Legal Aid Conference
The Faculty of Law, Egerton University in collaboration with the European Union (EU) and United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) through its flagship Amkeni Wakenya Project hosted the second annual National Legal Aid Conference (NLAC) this year running from 30th November to 4th December.
This is the second conference of its kind in Kenya focused on enhancing legal aid services, this year was organized under the theme Access to Justice for All in a Socio- Economic Crisis: Lessons from a Global Pandemic (COVID 19). The conference brought together representatives from the Judiciary, National Legal Aid Services(NLAS), the Council for Legal Education, academia, legal practitioners, and a wider representation of justice actors and the Government, including PLEAD CSO partners from the region to share their experiences and showcase innovations instituted to address access to justice challenges amid the COVID 19 pandemic in Kenya.
The pandemic and subsequent containment measures applied variously adversely impacted the broad range of economic and social rights including access to justice and continues to present challenges in beyond the lockdown period. Thus the conference not only provided a platform to identify and document emerging trends in the delivery of legal aid services; but also the opportunity to renew commitments by development partners and national duty bearers including the National Legal Aid Service infrastructure to strengthen administration of justice for the poor and marginalized in Kenya.
During the conference, participants were able to address several themes by way of presenting academic papers to elicit plenary discussions to provide a better understanding of opportunities and challenges during this extraordinary time and towards recovery in building back better. From the presentations, it became apparent that COVID-19 has had great implications on legal education, the administration of justice, access to legal remedies and dispute resolution not forgetting enforcement of the rule of law. “COVID-19 has accelerated the challenges of access to justice and human rights, and we must therefore act now and together to address these,” observed Dr. Juma.
In ensuring continuity of dispensation of justice services, the Judiciary embraced digital technology with electronic filing and case management, digitization of court records and adoption audio-visual recording and transcription of court proceedings. “COVID-19 has taught us that we can harness technology at the same time benefit from it to move forward. It is up to stakeholders and advocates to ensure that justice is still upheld even during COVID-19,” noted Hon. Lady Justice Helen Wasilwa in her keynote address.
Commenting on the conference, Dr. Aura spoke of Faculty of Legal Law Project’s (FOLLAP) achievements even during this pandemic. “FOLLAP has been at the forefront of empowering the poor and marginalized to access to justice during the pandemic through various ways,” she said.
In his keynote address, Mr. Alexandre Barron, the Head of section Governance & Macroeconomics, European Union delegation in Kenya took note of the lessons learned including the increased the prevalence of GBV necessitating better consideration the vulnerable groups including women, children and people with disabilities. On the second phase of PLEAD, he noted that there will be a major focus on digitization at the same time considering the digital gap emerging as a result of embracing technology to ensure that we leave no one behind. EU also aims to improve coordination with other partners that support the justice system in Kenya,” stated Mr. Baron.
“With the EU partnership, we have been able to replicate the services in other counties towards the promotion of access to justice and legal aid. COVID-19 has hurt the economy which has equally affected timely access of legal aid and justice,” Ms. Bidali noted of the EU support to PLEAD programming.
Based on the observations made, concrete conference resolutions made include there need to foster better working relationships between the development partners and government and in particular the Judiciary in easing dispensation of justice in Kenya. The need to dedicate more resources, review and implement relevant regulatory frameworks towards urgent mitigation of climate change, which remains in an urgent global problem in the wake of the pandemic for states and communities across the globe was highlighted during the climate justice session within the last day of the conference.
A recommendation to work with community members and civil society as part of the strengthening the national conference engagement led by Egerton University Faculty of Law of Legal Aid Project(FOLLAP) while also reaching out to private sector for participation in the next conference pipped to take place in 2022. Increased participation as well by a wider representation of the justice sector remain a key consideration including peace building as a theme for next year’s conference.
In its second year of implementation, Egerton University’s Faculty of Law is one of the law schools in Kenya currently implementing access to justice and legal aid project with financial support from the European Union, and technical assistance from UNDP in Kenya through its civil society facility, the Amkeni Wakenya Project. This has been made possible through the Programme for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery in Kenya (PLEAD), a strategic partnership between the European Union (EU), Government of Kenya, United Nations and civil society organizations towards the promotion of access to justice in Kenya.
Article by: Audrey Othim.
